


Emotional Harmonics

by Haecceity



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, M/M, Referenced Slavery, nerdy Alexii feels, non-sexual soulmates, referenced homophobia, terminal illness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-26
Updated: 2015-10-26
Packaged: 2018-04-28 05:22:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,472
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5079448
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Haecceity/pseuds/Haecceity
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dorian and Felix weren't lovers and they weren't brothers. They were soulmates.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Emotional Harmonics

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this for the prompt:
> 
>  
> 
> _Soulmate AU where Dorian is his LI's soulmate, but Dorian's soulmate was Felix. If Felix's soulmate was Dorian or not (or if they were involved romantically) is up to A!A._
> 
>  
> 
> It might have less emphasis on Dorian/Inquisitor than the prompter wanted but it felt like I'd reached a natural end point.

Magister Gereon Alexius had spent the trip home from Minrathous worrying. Becoming Dorian Pavus’s patron was a good move politically speaking. The boy was talented and intelligent enough to be a joy to teach. Once Alexius had convinced him that the research project was worth his time, of course. His… proclivities also made him unlikely to cause trouble in the household. He knew the penalties for misbehavior even with his family’s social standing.

No, the problem Alexius worried about was Felix. 

Felix could barely light a candle. Dorian could set a room ablaze by forgetting to control himself. Felix could never assist him in the lab, never see the things Alexius saw in the Fade. Dorian had already made strides in understanding the questions Alexius posed. He had done everything he could to ensure that his son never felt less than loved and treasured despite his weak magical abilities. If Felix was jealous of Dorian’s skill and position in Alexius’s lab, it was too late to take it back.

Felix was a very bright boy. If he wanted to make Dorian’s life miserable, he’d find a way. The Pavus boy was known to be impulsive and to have a temper. With the disparity in their training and skill, an altercation between them could only end one way.

If, if, if. Alexius’s father would have been disgusted by those second thoughts. A man did what he judged was best and lived with the consequences, according to his father. It was the surprises he didn’t foresee that would be his downfall so no use second guessing a decision already made. Alexius’s father had certainly never seen Felix’s lack of magical talent coming. Or Livia’s decision to protect their son even from his grandfather.

And as it turned out, Alexius was worrying about the wrong thing.

***

Felix bounded over to his father in a fit of adolescent energy. “You’re back!” He threw his arms around his father. “Mother said you were bringing-” He stopped as he met Dorian’s eyes.

“Dorian.” He bowed rapidly, looking at Felix as if he were a scorpion about to sting. “House Pavus.”

“Pleased to meet you,” Felix said, eyes and smile wide.

“I- I should get unpacked.” Dorian said anxiously. “It’s been a very long trip. I’m sorry but I’m very tired.”

Bewildered, Alexius ordered two of the slaves to move Dorian’s luggage.

“Will he be staying?” Felix asked hopefully.

It wasn’t an odd question. Some of Livia’s students didn’t live up to her standards and were sent to other teachers as soon as arrangements could be made. Dorian was Alexius’s first and only student.

“If he works hard and is as smart as I think he is, he should stay for a long time.”

“Good,” Felix nodded. “I like him.”

“You just met him.” Ordinarily, Felix took a week or two to warm to one of Livia’s students if he was going to. He had a good eye for which of her students would stay. Alexius was viscerally reminded of the difference between worry and dread. “You haven’t exchanged five words.”

Felix shrugged. “We’re going to be friends. Good friends.”

“It takes two people to have a friendship. You can’t decide that for him.”

“But he wants to be my friend.” Felix frowned at his father. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m going to give you a book to read.” Alexius said, weighing Venantius’s _Soul Mates: A Study_ against Kostas’s _Emotional Harmonics_ in his mind. “Two books. Then I’m going to have a conversation with Dorian.”

***

Dorian wanted to unpack with force and anger but he tenderly arranged his books on the shelves provided. These were the ones he treasured the most. As scared and angry as he was, he couldn’t bring himself to risk harming his books. So rather than stomping around his room in a blind panic, Alexius found Dorian quietly arranging his books by subject matter.

“You are my son’s soul mate.” Alexius said without preamble.

“Possibly only one of them,” Dorian said in a strained voice.

“The only one present.” Alexius sighed. “I know you aren’t responsible for this but he’s a child. You will need to be the responsible one for the time being. You aren’t who I would choose-”

A snort escaped Dorian.

“-but that isn’t a variable I control. What I can control is that if you abuse my hospitality, I will send you back to your father and inform him why.” Alexius’s simply delivered threat set Dorian’s heart hammering.

“I would never!” Dorian spoke quickly. “I want to study with you more than anything.” He could see Alexius’s eyes darken at that, his mouth twisting downward. “And you’re my patron! I would never- I’m not some walking dispensary for scandal!” His voice rang in his ears, sounding more hurt than it had in his head.

Alexius sighed heavily. “You’re young and I’m a worried old man. I’ll have the staff send word for you to prepare for dinner.” He glanced at Dorian’s books. “And redo that. You have your histories out of order.”

***

Dorian was resolved to stay out of Felix’s way. It was a large estate. Alexius’s wife’s dozen students provided a decent buffer at meals. If he was in the public areas, they could be counted on for conversation and periodic encounters.

Alexius’s lab was a different story. The other students weren’t allowed anywhere near Alexius’s specially calibrated equipment. Even his wife only went in to briefly consult. Only Dorian spent hours upon hours in there familiarizing himself with Alexius’s methodology and numbers.

Felix as the heir could go wherever he wanted. He was supposed to be leaving Dorian alone, Dorian was sure. When Felix crept into the lab late at night, Dorian should have sent him back to bed.

But his presence was comforting, like sitting next to a warm fire on a chilly night. Felix would bring a book and read, raiding the kitchen for Dorian when he studied through dinner.

When Felix went off to the University of Orlais, the place felt colder. Dorian adjusted. He’d have to do without Felix when he left Alexius’s tutelage and got married. Best to get used to it.

On one of Felix’s visits home, he approached Dorian while he reviewed the math Alexius’s wife’s students had given him on their last attempt to put his and Alexius’s research into action.

“Do you ever want to-”

It was experience with Felix as much as their connection that let Dorian know what he was thinking. Dorian was already shaking his head. “No. I know what people think and no. It isn’t like that for me.”

Felix smiled. “Good. Me either.” He waited a few minutes. “Thierry, one of my classmates, has been talking about doing a real statistical analysis on soul mates. The problem is getting people to talk about it. Do we think soul mates are almost always sexual relationships because they are or because that’s what’s most acceptable to talk about and so we only talk about the sexual ones. The questionnaire is anonymous.”

“I would prefer it if you didn’t. You might not be able to get married but my parents would murder me if anyone found that thread.”

“He’s also asking about how old people are when they meet their first soul mate. How many they’ve met.” Felix continued in the same tone. “Are they men or women. That doesn’t mean the same thing to Orlesians that it does to us.”

“If you’re asking me to elope with you to Orlais, you’ll have to wait. Your father wants this done before day after tomorrow.”

“Of course. Your research with father is the core of your existence.” Felix stuck out his tongue at Dorian. “But Dorian, think of the effect you could have on Orlesian fashion.”

“I could make a few improvements. Something needs to be done about those hats.” Dorian continued his review without looking up. “Atys tried wearing one last season. Appalling.”

“Thierry also wonders if there’s anything to the saying, ‘sooner mated, sooner dead.’”

Dorian did look up for that. “My family’s gardener met his wife when they were young children and knew they were soul mates immediately. They’re well into their fifties, the lucky bastard.”

Felix hesitated. “I know your parents are pushing you to go home and marry.”

“They’ve been doing that for over a year.” Dorian said in as unbothered a tone as he could manage.

“You’re not going to?”

“I’ve been telling them I want to keep studying. I might make Senior Enchanter by thirty.”

“And then?”

Dorian huffed out an annoyed breath. “Then we’ll see.” He was grateful when Felix dropped the subject. A little more than six months later, Dorian wished he had picked some other reaction.

***

Alexius looked down at his son’s face, with its patches of corruption. Livia was gone. He’d written her students’ letters of recommendation in a daze. They were gone too. There was just himself, Dorian, and Felix. It was as quiet as a tomb.

Livia had gone to Orlais so she could make the journey home with Felix. He hadn’t. He’d been working on the backroom deals that Tevinter politics ran on, trying to get a piece of legislation vital to his and Livia’s agenda passed. He’d been worrying about all the wrong things. Looking at his son, he knew that had to stop.

“I will save you, my son,” Alexius said, stroking Felix’s hair.

A man did what he judged was best and lived with the consequences. There was no point in second guessing.

***

“On a scale of one to ten, how much pain are you in?” Dorian asked gently.

“You should be trying to get my father to eat instead of worrying about me.” Felix coughed and struggled to sit up.

“You worry about him. He worries about you. It’s a cycle of endless giving.” Dorian said with desperate humor.

“Do you feel it?”

“No, not at all.”

Felix grunted. “What does it feel like to you?”

“Cold. Angry. Or maybe that’s me. I could be imagining it. I probably am.”

“You’re not.” Felix held out his hand and after a long moment, Dorian gripped it tightly. “It’s down to a six today. Whatever you’re adding to the tincture, it’s working. Tell my father it’s working.”

“I will.” Dorian bent over and kissed Felix’s forehead. “We may be able to stop the pain.”

“But I’m probably never going to be well again.” Felix’s sigh rattled in his lungs. “Sooner mated, sooner dead.” He was too tired to be truly angry about it. That was alright, Dorian was angry enough for both of them.

“If my parents had had another son, he and I would have been rivals. My mother would have played us off one another. My father-” Dorian inhaled sharply. “My father would have picked a favorite. It would have been awful.” But not as awful as losing Felix would be.

Felix squeezed his hand weakly. “I love you too.”

***

When Alexius kicked Dorian off of his estate, a tiny, traitorous part of his heart was glad. He was glad to do something that wasn’t watching Felix die. Glad that he wasn’t watching Alexius ignore Felix, as if he wouldn’t be truly present until Alexius had saved him. Glad to leave behind the smell of corruption and fermentation.

But now Felix was alone.

***

Dorian felt Felix’s presence in the room like a poisoned cup of warm wine. He was cold and thirsty enough to drink anyway.

Pulling Felix into a hug, Dorian felt how thin his soul mate was. “Still up and about, I see.”

“It’s good to see you too, Dorian.” Felix said, moving almost as usual. If Dorian hadn’t known him before, he might have thought Felix simply suffered from a poor complexion and lack of exercise. “I need your help.”

“Let me clear my busy schedule.” Dorian said wryly.

“My father and I are going to Orlais and maybe farther south. I don’t know why but it isn’t good.” Felix gripped Dorian’s forearms. “He’s joined some sort of cult. Exactly the type of thing he always spoke against. Please help me.”

Throat dry as he remembered finding the blood magic ritual in his father’s study, Dorian found himself nodding before he’d had a chance to think. “Of course. I’ll follow you.”

“Good,” Felix seemed to deflate slightly as the tension left him.

“Look at us finally eloping to Orlais. Between the two of us it will turn out alright.” he said confidently, rubbing Felix’s back.

Felix inhaled deeply and turned his head to rest it against Dorian’s shoulder. 

“That wasn’t your doing,” Dorian said sharply. “Don’t apologize for him. We are not our fathers.”

“So long as you remember that too.”

***

“Oh good! You’re finally here.” Dorian turned and looked the Inquisitor in the eyes. As the sensation of encountering another piece of his soul blundered into his mind, he turned back to the fight. A burst of anger passed through him before his training took over. This Inquisitor Trevelyan couldn’t replace Felix, how dare he be Dorian’s soul mate too.

It wasn’t until they were tramping through the mountains and he felt Felix’s light go out of the world that he released that anger. He blamed the redness of his eyes and his sniffling nose on the cold. He could feel the Inquisitor in the camp and the vacancy left by Felix. He could still mourn Felix.

And he did. Quietly. Alone. No one here knew him or what he usually acted like. It was easy to hide the depth of his grief.

But not from Trevelyan. “Were you and he...?”

“No! Not like that. We were soul mates but the idea of that, no.” Dorian shuddered with distaste.

“Do you believe soul mates should be as pure as the bond between the Maker and Andraste?”

“No, I can’t say that I do.” Dorian said, snorting at an idea that was apparently more popular in the south. It had never caught on outside the Free Marches.

“Alright.” Trevelyan held out a sword callused hand. “I think we should get to know one another better. I’m Maxwell Trevelyan.”

“Dorian of House Pavus.” Dorian said, taking Trevelyan’s hand reluctantly.

“A pleasure to meet you. If you want us to be Inquisitor and Tevinter expert and nothing more, I can understand. The timing is… less than excellent.”

“It is. Thank you for understanding.” Not that it made them any less soul mates. “And it may not be the best idea for you to flaunt having a Tevinter mage for a soul mate.”

“I don’t care about that.”

“You're being naive,” he snapped. But he felt the warmth of the truth of that. “But I may be able to be convinced. When we know each other better.” He gave Trevelyan a small smile.


End file.
